Aluminum as 'art' painting surface

A. Hello Coln!

Aluminum should work very well for you as a painting surface! It is readily available in flat sheets up to 4 by 8 feet, sometimes even greater, and is available with textured finishes (where the mill rolls in an embossed pattern) as well as the standard flat, smooth material you envision. I took a quick look at an industrial hardware supplier's catalog, and they listed a 4 by 8 sheet, 1/8 inch thick for $218. You can likely do better by calling an aluminum supplier found in the yellow pages.

Since you merely want the aluminum to support paint, you don't need the high strength grades. I'd recommend a 1100 or 6061 grade because they are common, least expensive, and readily take the preparation steps. The easiest of these prep steps is a chromate conversion coating, often referred to by the trade names of 'Alodine' or 'Iridite'. This will put a very thin (millionths of an inch) 'coating' on the aluminum- actually it is converting some of the surface aluminum to a chromated oxide. The better, more complex preparation step would be anodizing, wherein you make your aluminum an anode, put it in an acid bath, and run electricity through it to greatly thicken the natural aluminum oxide layer. It's still a pretty thin layer- sulfuric acid anodizing is only a few ten-thousandths of an inch thick- but it's thick enough to make a superb paint base. Prime it, and you're ready to make a work that will last as long as the paint.

I'd suggest having the preparation steps, either the conversion coating or the anodizing, done at a commercial shop: you can find some here at finishing.com, or if none of those fit your needs check the yellow pages or web search engines.

Good luck!

A. To Lee and Colin, (in response to Colin's inquiry about aluminum preparation for art painting surface.)

I am an artist/painter who has been using bare aluminum panel for awhile but only recently discovered the metal primer I have used is insufficient to protect the metal from long term corrosion. Lee mentions both anodized and chromate conversion, both of which I am investigating. I have found a possible problem that Lee may not have considered. The primer paint coat he mentions will have a problem adhering to the anodized surface unless it is "roughed-up" with asandpaper. This is the normal procedure for applying primers to a smooth bare surface. A fine grit paper may have the potential to breakthrough the very thin layer of anodization and/or the chromate conversion he is suggesting. I wonder if Lee could comment on this. This is a painter problem essentially but it is leading me to consider POWDER COATING as a better way to go for Colin's situation. For more info on this and comparison to anodized properties.

Best,

A. Hi, Terri. Although the Alodine 1201 [on eBay or Amazon] or "Iridite" chromate conversion coating mentioned by Lee is ideal, that really should be done at a metal finishing shop; your alternative of a zinc chromate primer or an automotive primer. Anodizing, powder coating these will work; powder coating will be cheaper.

Personally I think you all are thinking about it too hard, It's aluminum it will last long enough for your grandchildren's grandchildren to appreciate it if you treat as you would any other piece of fine art. I have yet to receive any complaints from any of my clients regarding corrosion over time or problems with paint adhesion. Thanks for listening, check out my site!

A. Brian Fredella again, JJ Atwell the answer to your question I think is, yes...I don't think the aluminum surface has anything to do with it if the paint is not sealed with a uv resistant exterior grade topcoat (Permalac [adv: Permalac on eBay]) I don't think you could expect it to hold up over an extended period of time no matter what it is painted on. Claudine L, I side with you on this one, I don't think a primer is necessary, gesso, zinc chromate, anodize, Alodine, etching primer, powder coat, none of it. What you need is surface prep. I use 80 grit with an orbital sander or media blaster, and have never had a client complain of problems with adhesion. The paint will not peel if properly prepped and cared for as fine art should be. Aluminum must be clean and free from dirt and oil before painting. Hope this helps.

Thanks all for a lot of valuable information. I checked out Brian Fedella's website/store. Brian: For a second, the word 'Canvas' made me think it was Canvas-mounted Aluminum supports. Since art-support is a well understood term, and you do use the term 'Metal Art Support' too, may I suggest that the word 'Canvas' may be completely removed from the product descriptions/store items. Thanks.

A. Aluminium Composite Panel usually comes in 8 x 4 feet size, having normal thickness of 4 mm. However, 4mm is too thin and tends to bend easily, so go in for 6mm thickness. Have them cut with care, otherwise it tends to bend near the edges. To prepare properly, just scrub the surface with sandpaper (rough ones that come in about 4 inch thickness and measured in lengths of meters (just small pieces would do). After the surface is scrubbed properly by sandpaper, use industrial spirit (like the one used when spirit polishing wooden furniture), and properly clean the surface. Then, instead of using gesso etc, just use directly from tube itself of acrylic paint and apply with wide brush on surface. If using white, then once up down, then followed by once sideways after drying. The acrylic paint has strong binding of its own, and once it is dry, the surface is ready for fine painting. A painting done in this way is showing no problem even after 5 years now, in spite of there being a lot of humidity and heat where I live. If it were painted on canvas, there would have been patches here and there, mostly of fungus. But painting on aluminium composite panel has no such problems.

A. I've been painting on galvanized sheet metal (26 ga.) for over 30 yrs. and have had no durability issues with the following process. First I etch the metal, flat and level outdoors, with a fairly strong dilution of muriatic (hydrochloric) acid. I let the surface cook for a few minutes and then rinse well with water. I then let it drain in a vertical position. It's a good idea to neutralize the acid with a baking soda [on eBay or Amazon] and water solution. Let that dry and wipe down with a clean lint free rag or paper towel damp with denatured alcohol. Remember to use proper protection because the fumes from the zinc and acid are toxic. A respirator is necessary as well as rubber gloves and eye protection. A rubber rain suit would be a good idea. Then prime with a suitable galvanized metal primer. I've used different water based products and they all seem to work well. Recently I've been using a greenish translucent primer from Sherwin Williams that is water based and easy to use. When dry enough to recoat, I've been priming again with 1 or more coats of any good primer. I think that white gesso might give the best ground. I roll it with a short nap lint free roller and lay it off with a 3" brush in one direction. I usually apply more than 1 coat and lay these subsequent coats off in the opposite direction. This (the brush strokes at 90 degrees to each other) gives me a "tread effect" mimicking the look of canvas. It could be sanded smooth of course. Be sure that the primer coats the edge of the metal so that it won't rust. All things considered, aluminum may be a better choice and the aluminum composite panels seem interesting. Does anyone know about the pre-painted aluminum sign blanks, etc. that come with a gloss finish? Can sanding and repriming provide a durable base which won't have any adhesion issues? I believe they are also available with a matte finish.

A. Hi all

Re: hanging aluminium artworks, I use 'U' shaped aluminium bars that attach one near the top and one near the bottom of the piece. I attach it with two part epoxy glue [on eBay or Amazon] and it stays just fine. I drill two holes at the top of the bar I want to hang from and string hanging wire. This way makes sure your work hangs an equal distance from the wall at the top and bottom and reduces swing or movement of the piece. I have had some of these works over ten years with no problems yet as far as hanging. I like to use for photo mounting.

Hope this helps.

A. You can buy canvas covered aluminum plates at naturalpigments.com.

A. You might look into the history of copper coated panel painting for oil based paintings. There is a long tradition of it but the surface must be prepared properly. I haven't done it myself but should be easy enough to look up.

A. Regarding varnishes on acrylic and what lasts "forever", it's problematic. From a museum conservator's standpoint, a varnish is something that is removed periodically as it ages over decades or centuries, and then a new varnish is applied. Acrylic paints don't take such abuse terribly well because they remain soft and pliable. They are also soluble in a lot of substances. Even the mechanical action involved in removing and applying a varnish, can change the structure of the painting. http://www.justpaint.org/conservation-of-acrylic-paintings/

For these reasons many artists don't varnish acrylic paintings at all. This leaves the acrylic exposed to other hazards, notably dust and grime in the environment. The soft surface picks those up easily. But when alternatives are worse, people accept what they must. Acrylics still have many long term durability characteristics, for instance they are much less prone to cracking than ancient oil paintings. If you're trying to decide "what medium will last forever" acrylics is still a really good choice overall.

A. Hi. I make painted sculpture and have done several public pieces using aluminum. The process is simple. Make the piece then take it to a professional metal finisher. Have them put a protective undercoat particular to aluminum (usually a chromate). Then I paint with outdoor grade acrylic paint. As a final step I have the finisher apply a two part clear epoxy like that used on cars. For outdoors I have the finisher do three coats. I have pieces up in a north atlantic coastal port town for over 15 years and they are still doing very well. Better than I ever imagined.

Andreas Nottebohm

The Art of Jeff Sturgeon

A. Andreas Nottebohm, a German artist, is widely regarded as one of the key innovators of Metal Painting.

Another contemporary practitioner worthy of note is Jeff Sturgeon, an award-winning science fiction illustrator from Portland, Oregon, whose greater fame in the Sci-Fi community stems from his fine art paintings on textured aluminum plate stock. If this subject interests you, then you simply MUST see his work; photographs and prints don't do it justice.

I don't believe either of these artists use chemical processes to prepare or preserve the metal, but they brush and grind to generate textures, which seem to be more for visual effect than for keeping the paint on, although I suppose it helps. Actually, I think much of their works are rendered with acrylic dyes which are absorbed into the metal.

A. Hi Alan. There is another thread here where a painting contractor claims he could not get good adhesion onto Kynar window frames even after careful sanding; I'd be very wary of satisfactory adhesion of artwork onto Kynar. I believe similar panels are available with several different paints or primers, and I think any of them would be better than Kynar, or anodized, or raw aluminum. Good luck.

Luck & Regards,